Earth’s Mightiest Heroes: The 20 Greatest Avengers

4) The Hulk

The Incredible Hulk has the distinction of being the very reason the Avengers originally came together – as he was manipulated by Loki into wreaking havoc. However, he soon joined the other heroes and helped found the team. Despite his co-founder status, though, Hulk separated from the group for a long while after the 1960s and became most associated with the Defenders instead. He only recently joined the Avengers once again, in line with the movie version of the character. In current comics though, Bruce Banner is dead and his old pal Amadeus Cho has become the new Hulk.

3) Thor

Most of the heroes on this list have fallen out with the team on occasion, but the God of Thunder has pretty much always been a rock for the Avengers and will pop down to Midgard whenever he’s needed – assuming he’s not dead at the time, as can happen. With his might and otherworldly wisdom, Thor’s one of the Avenger’s core Big Three. Like most of the founding Avengers at the moment, the son of Odin isn’t in active duty – as he’s currently not deemed worthy enough to be Thor due to hearing a tragic secret – but his old lady love Jane Foster has taken up Mjolnir instead.